Guest Post (from my friend Dawn!) Unique Eating in N’Awlins

Since I am still busy off my face with work stuff and I don’t have time myself to put up an interesting, funny, or thought-provoking post, I have a special treat for you which is just that!

My good friend Dawn McGuckin from high school has decided to grace you all with her presence with a deliciously entertaining guest post about her recent trip to New Orleans.

Dawn & Lindsey Way Back Playback - Grade 12 Formal

Lindsey & Dawn Now

I’m excited for one of my real friends to do a guest post (not that you guys are not, but you know ;)). If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have seen her pop up from time to time. So without further adieu, here is Dawnald!

***

Allo,

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you have seen and heard about some of my antics with Miss Lindsey Evanoff, so I’m sure you can get a feel for the kind of gal that I am. I also think that you may find that our writing styles and sense of humour tend to be a little Mary Kate and Ashley, but that’s OK. You can’t have too much of a good thing 😉

We Like to Clap

I wanted to guest blog for a couple of reasons. I really believe in the message of Lindz’s blog. A healthy lifestyle is key and is something I didn’t understand during my formative university years. As a result, I packed on a sultry 40 pounds. I slowly worked away at getting rid of this poundage and it has fortunately hit the road over the last couple of years, as I have hit the elliptical (I’m not quite the running fan that Lindz is). However, in keeping with the spirit of HOH, I LOVE food and so my main reason for wanting to share is because I just had the most incredible culinary experience in New Orleans and felt the world needed to know about the little American treasure that is ‘N’Awlins’.

Glasses Gals

My fam and I on our way to the Big Easy. I think it’s safe to say our genetics are undeniable.

The first three nights of our trip, we stayed in Jackson, Mississippi with a friend of ours, Katty and her husband Larry, who were kind enough to room and board our crazy selves. On our second night, we went to Cock of the Walk. I could really have a field day with that name, but since this must remain family friendly, I’ll leave it alone. However, along with a unique name, came unique cuisine. It was certainly a night of firsts for all of us.

First out came our corn bread. The waitress comes out with a hot pan and the corn bread still in it and a big part of the meal is her flipping it in front of you. I’m not really sure what this did but it was darn entertaining!

Jusssst Flippin' the Cornbread

We were then treated to some grits and fried onions. These went unpictured but I fell in love with them when they were cooked with something like onion, or some kind of other seasoning. They often came plain on the side of a lot of dishes and they could be gooey. So the low down on grits is that they can range from bland to downright delicious. If you ever come across them on a Southern menu, go for it! Just make sure they are seasoned with something.

Following the cornbread and grits, the least appealing part of the meal was turnip greens. If you have ever heard of collared greens, these are probably their less appealing sibling. I think this picture speaks for itself.

Turnip Greens Love

At least my sister enjoyed them…..hehe.

Next up was a ridiculously large plate of fries and fried cat fish. Here in good old Canada, I must admit, I’ve thrown quite the temper tantrum when I pull one of these dirty bad boys out of the water when fishing. However, they are a ‘specialty’ in the good ol’ South. I must admit, it was appealing and something I would absolutely try here in Canada….if there weren’t other superior options like salmon, sole, haddock, halibut, you get my drift.

We couldn’t even finish the plate between the five of us!

A little side dish that deserves an honourable mention is fried pickles. Every time my girl Snookie dug into these on the Shore, I always felt a little sick inside but they are FANTASTIC. I highly recommend them and I know they are increasing in their popularity around these parts thanks to everyone’s favourite reality TV pumpkin.

Overall the meal had it’s ups and downs, but what definitely tipped the scale to the positive were the beautiful prison standard plates and cups that they were served on.

Clearly my mom is drunk with love for them.

I would give Mississippi food a 7/10. We had some amazing pizza, the aforementioned dinner and I even got to go to the Olive Garden! This was my favourite restaurant in the world before they tore out a bit of my soul and removed the franchise from Ontario about ten years ago. Anytime I’m around one, I always make sure to go, and Jackson’s version did not disappoint.

However, the food lovin’ is about to go from good to chart topping as we leave Jackson and head to one of the oldest cities in North America…

Dawn’s Questions:

What are some of your food travel stories?

Have you ever tried something exotic that turned out to be a pleasant surprise (like the grits)? Or was it the nightmare you expected (much like the turnip greens)?

Dawn will be back tomorrow with installment numero deux, so keep an eye out!

Wow, that plate is HUGE.
And I remember when I was in South Beach when I was 16 and tried unbreaded, cold calamari, mussels and escargot for the first time. I was so nervous & grossed out, but ended up loving all of it!
And in Disney World, I attempted to eat a grasshopper covered in chocolate. I put it to my mouth and immediately almost blacked out. I threw it out, but now I kind of want to try it again!

Oh hello Dawnald!
This post made me want to eat deep fried everything. I enjoy your posts, as they are cleaner than your wall posts hehe. Looks like you had some culinary treats, squirrel! Good guest post, can’t wait for #2!

Southern food is so different! They have so many of their own specialties.
I like a lot of it, but it often seems to be really fattening. Chicken fried chicken? Biscuits and gravy? It’s all a little much.

The Olive Garden! I love that place and I too go every time I’m in the States. I love the never-ending garlic bread sticks and salad.
I’ve always wanted to go to New Orleans.
I love ordering off the menu in different countries when there is no English translation. You might understand the meat or one thing in the dish but everything else is a exciting mystery!

We all could look happy like that if we all could stop despising nature and men and their friendly compliments about bosoms and cleavage and rearends and live harmoniously with the earth, God made us from. Any socalled cop who insults someone in Ct. by calling his compliments “controversial”, herself ought to be criticized and permanently banished from her precinct or department and jailed inhumanely as an animal thats what she is.

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Welcome!

Thanks for popping by! My name is Lindsey, and I pretty much have two moods: happy, or hungry. I like to tell stories and draw pictures of my adventures. I will do just about anything to make someone laugh.

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Feel free to email me at happyorhungry [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or feedback. I'd love to hear from you!

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